Musk retains plan to fly Starship to Mars in 2026 despite setbacks

Elon Musk plans first uncrewed voyage to Mars by end of 2026, despite setbacks, aiming for self-sustaining settlement.

Two days after the latest in a string of test-flight setbacks for his big new Mars spacecraft, Starship, Elon Musk said on May 29 he foresees the futuristic vehicle making its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of next year.

Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company, SpaceX, a day after saying he was departing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as head of a tumultuous campaign to slash government bureaucracy.

The billionaire entrepreneur had said earlier that he was planning to scale back his role in government to focus greater attention on his various businesses, including SpaceX and electric car and battery maker Tesla.

Musk acknowledged that his latest timeline for reaching Mars hinged on whether Starship can accomplish a number of challenging technical feats during its flight-test development, particularly a post-launch refueling manoeuvre in earth orbit.

The end of 2026 would coincide with a slim window that occurs once every two years when Mars and the earth align around the sun for the closest trip between the two planets, which would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft.

Musk gave his company a 50% chance of meeting that deadline. If Starship were not ready by that time, SpaceX will wait another two years before trying again, Musk suggested in the video.

The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of one or more robots of the Tesla-built humanoid Optimus design, with the first human crews following in the second or third landings. Musk said he envisioned eventually launching 1,000 to 2,000 ships to Mars every two years to quickly establish a self-sustaining permanent human settlement.